trivial name

trivial name

Chemistry A common, historic, or convenient name for a substance, derived often from the source in which the substance was discovered, but unsystematic and not used in modern official nomenclature, as sucrose for &bgr;-D-fructofuranosyl-&agr;-D-glucopyranoside.

trivial name

Noun

(plural trivial names)

a commonly used, non-systematic name of a chemicalcompound. Trivial names for many compounds have been in use since long before their exact chemical structures were determined.